title: A context-based theory of recency and contiguity in free recall.
abstract: The authors present a new model of free recall on the basis of M. W. Howard and M. J. Kahana's temporal context model and M. Usher and J. L. McClelland's leaky-accumulator decision model. In this model, contextual drift gives rise to both short-term and long-term recency effects, and contextual retrieval gives rise to short-term and long-term contiguity effects. Recall decisions are controlled by a race between competitive leaky accumulators. The model captures the dynamics of immediate, delayed, and continual distractor free recall, demonstrating that dissociations between short- and long-term recency can naturally arise from a model in which an internal contextual state is used as the sole cue for retrieval across time scales.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Brain, Mind, and Behavior, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. persed@princeton.edu
authors.forename: Per B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Sederberg
authors.forename: Marc W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kahana
mesh_terms: D001244:Association; D001288:Attention; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D011334:Proactive Inhibition; D011336:Probability; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012691:Serial Learning